No One Needs To Know
“Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.” ~ Blaise Pascal
“Do you want to know the good I did yesterday? Do you? Huh? Do you? The good things I said to people? The good things I did for people? The wonderful person that I was? Do you want to hear all about it?!” Jesus would say, if anyone would do that, they would already be paid because they did their good deeds for show and not for God.
As we grow and develop, it seems that we all have a propensity to desire to be noticed. We want people to see what we do. Even more, we want people to praise us for what we do. We work really hard for the attaboys and attagirls in our early life. That desire/need to be praised is carried over into our adult lives in many ways. We want our employers to notice and praise us. We want our families and friends to notice us and build us up with their affirmations of praise as well.
Sometimes, the praise becomes more important to us than the good works that we have done. Our need to be praised can take over other aspects of our relationships and work to the detriment of relationships. No one likes to be around a person who constantly desires praise. After a while, it wears really thin.
God doesn’t want that, either. He wants us to do good simply because it is the right thing to do, not because we want God to reward us. Rest assured, if we live lives of faithful service here on earth, God will reward us with eternal life. That has already been promised to us. So, there is no need to do things for the purpose of being noticed.
God prefers good deeds that are done in stealth. No one needs to notice. No one needs to see. No one needs to praise. If our good works benefit another person, God sees them and will remember them. Set out to please God today and do His works without the need for recognition or reward.
FAITH ACTION: Do not say or do anything today for the sake of being noticed. Rather, do it because it’s the right thing to do.